Read Bad Apple (Part 1) for Free Online Page A

get hurt?”
    “I thought it was a sex injury at first, but now I’m just stumped.”
    “Was it the cat again? I hate that little fucker.”
    “Nik!”
    “Remember when he pretended to be affectionate and you pulled him onto your lap? He almost bit your—”
    “STOP!”
    “Well he did and that woulda been cannibalism,” she mumbles cheekily, totally ruining my bitter mood when she deposits a cup of strawberry-flavored cappuccino in front of me.
    Clever ass.
    The ribbing has distracted Misha and I look up to see his lips twitching, my eyes narrowing in warning when Tatiana sidles closer and looks at him expectantly.
    “My lips will remain sealed as soon as you agree to come home with me and rest.”
    “I have to work.”
    The door to the bakery opens, the bell ringing merrily, and I almost groan when Leo and Vadim sidle in, their faces going white when they see me.
    “Ri, my sweet temptress, what the heck happened to you?” Vadim demands, coming over to inspect me thoroughly before laying a wet one on my lips.
    “Nothing that anyone needs to know about,” I mumble, looking pointedly at Misha who’s fighting not to laugh.
    Leo just frowns and gives me a wave before looking at my shoulder and my head.
    “You shouldn’t be here, Ri.”
    No, what I should be doing right now is making a three-tiered cupcake tower complete with caramel filling and chocolate and strawberry icing for a bachelorette party tomorrow.
    “Don’t worry, I’m taking her home for some rest and those pain pills her doctor gave me earlier,” Misha growls.
    “No—”
    “Fine, you won’t listen to me, angel? I’ll just call Mama. She’ll be all over you with soup and wet kisses in no time.”
    I know Russian mamas. They smother you and feed you nonstop till your body heals in self-defence just to stop you from gaining twenty pounds in three days!
    They also have this terrible habit of over-exaggerating an injury and calling any and all people in their phone books to commiserate about the poor invalid.
    My mama once called an entire phone tree when I had my appendix out, swearing I almost died on the operating table when, in fact, I made it through in an hour and spent less time in the hospital than I do in the bath.
    And there’s my biggest problem right there. If she starts calling people, my mom will be in the know in under an hour and I’ll be overrun by three Velnicovas, to be precise.
    “Fine! But we’re going to my place and I am not taking those pills,” I mutter, shoving the order book at Tatiana with a warning.
    “You will take pills,” he says slowly, his eyes never leaving mine, his accent going deep with every enunciated word. “You will rest, and you will do so in my bed.”
    The silence around us is deafening, shattered only by the wild and altogether frenzied screaming of my hormones when he calmly leans in, slides his arms under me, and neatly hoists me over the counter and into his arms.
                  He barks an order to Leo while I am shocked, enthralled, and totally taken with the way he’s cradling me as if I weigh nothing. Total ego boost. And then I do something I shouldn’t do.
    I give in.
     
     

Chapter Nine
    Misha
    I watch Irina sleeping in my bed, her dark hair spread across my white sheets. What man in his right mind wouldn’t want to spend hours watching her angelic face as she snores lightly and drools onto the pillow?
    Adorable.
    I stripped her to her underwear about ten seconds after the pills took effect. I use this time to study her and figure a few things out after she let me know that she wants to be my friend.
    Friend .
    As if a friend can do everything I want to do to her. As if a friend can get his cum into her to make babies.
    When I’m under control and firmly settled in the chair beside the bed, I start planning again. And rooting through her bag. What I find there makes my head spin with anxiety, but I squash it down when I realize that she’s on a course of